California Today

The best of our readers’ love letters to California.

By Soumya Karlamangla

There are only a few states where Covid is spreading more.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Vice President Kamala Harris’s credentials are already well-known. But Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio has deep connections to the Golden State, too.

By Soumya Karlamangla

During my time on the newsletter, I had a goal to report from all of the state’s 58 counties. Readers came through with plenty of ideas.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Our California-focused newsletter will feature a curated collection of New York Times articles about the state.

By Soumya Karlamangla

There isn’t much science to it.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Some 207,000 acres have burned so far this year, more than five times the average.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Here are readers’ choices for some of the books published since 2000 that are most representative of the state.

By Soumya Karlamangla

An enormous overpass in Southern California is “more than just a bridge,” an official said.

By Soumya Karlamangla

In many places, a scorching Independence Day led into an even hotter weekend.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Fireworks touch off blazes in California that cause millions of dollars in damage each year.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Several cities in the state will top 110 degrees over the next few days.

By Soumya Karlamangla

The budget includes $12 million for reparations measures for the state’s Black residents.

By Soumya Karlamangla

The county is investing $5 million to partner with a nonprofit and wipe out $500 million in debt for residents. The program is expected to start later this year.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Subjects include safety at work and in bars, and the cost of renting a home or buying a gun.

By Soumya Karlamangla

My colleague Emily Cochrane takes us behind the scenes of the hotline, which receives as many as 3,000 calls and messages a day.

By Soumya Karlamangla

New hobbies, graduation ceremonies and more.

By Soumya Karlamangla

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and some states banned abortions altogether, many Americans began crossing state lines to get one.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Businesses are fuming and cities are exhaling after the State Supreme Court blocked a ballot measure at the heart of a big fight in Sacramento.

By Shawn Hubler

More than two dozen wildfires have ignited in California this week, and experts warn of an extreme season ahead.

By Soumya Karlamangla

The strange “no U-turn” signs along Griffith Park Boulevard in Silver Lake were erected in the 1990s to ward off gay men.

By Jill Cowan

The State Assembly passed a bill banning colleges from considering family ties to donors or alumni in admissions decisions.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Some lawmakers are trying to carve out an exception for restaurant owners, who say simply raising prices without context would hurt their business.

By Soumya Karlamangla

The state’s various programs enroll 10,000 service members a year.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Big birthdays, new family members and spectacular adventures.

By Soumya Karlamangla

The young writer came across a tale in the Sierra Nevada foothills that would bring him national attention.

By Soumya Karlamangla

Dos Rios, near Modesto in the Central Valley, offers new green space in a part of the state that has little of it.

By Soumya Karlamangla

A judge dismissed some state charges against the assailant who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s house in 2022, but he still faces life in prison if convicted.

By Soumya Karlamangla

California lawmakers are considering a bill that would require all new cars to be equipped to signal drivers when they exceed the speed limit by more than 10 m.p.h.

By Soumya Karlamangla

City officials decided to block testing of an experimental technology to fight global warming, even though experts hired by the city found that it posed no health risk to residents.

By Soumya Karlamangla